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Morrill Tariff Act
An act that raised the tariffs to more than double the pre-war rate. It helped make American revenue very high to get supplies for the Union army. -
Mobilization begins
Lincoln created a lot of new troops to help with the war effort. These new troops would replenish the fallen Union troops. -
Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina secede
After Virginia left the Union the other border states were sort of peer-pressured into joining the Confederacy. This is why the Confederacy grew so much in the period between December 20, 1860, and February 1, 1861. -
United States Sanitary Commission established
Southern women were not as involved as the Nothern women were. The Northern women founded the Sanitary Commission to send out nurses to help on the battlefield. These women saved so many lives and helped come up with new medical procedures to keep gangrene from continuing to be a major issue. Clara Barton was one of these women. -
First Battle of Bull Run
The first real battle of the Civil War. It was fought in Virginia and it was fought on an open field. Parents brought their children to watch because they thought that it would be a civil battle, but the carnage was unprecedented. -
Fort Sumpter falls; war begins
The war really began in April of 1861 when a battle began at Fort Sumter at the mouth of Charleston harbor. South Carolina was claimed by both sides and neither one was going to back down. The fort was dangerously low on supplies so Lincoln sent supplies and the fort then became a front for fighting. Beauregard surrendered the fort and the Confederate Stars and Bars rose over the fort. -
Battle of Antietam
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Emancipation Proclamation
On January 1, 1863, the proclamation went into effect. It stated that the Union could take property and not return it. Lincoln was calling slaves property and that angered a lot of people. It also named the Confederacy as "rebelling states". -
Battle of Gettysburg
Gettysburg was a horrible slaughter that ended the Confederate strongholds. Lee retreated and 1/3 of his army behind. Those 28,000 men were either wounded, killed, or missing. This allowed Grant to take Vicksburg on July 4, 1863. -
Robert E Lee surrenders at Appomattox
Lee was outnumbered two to one at Petersburg and Richmond. The troops did not have supplies, food, or clothes and so Lee surrendered at the Appomattox Court House. Grant gave Lee unprecedented respect and allowed the Confederates parole. -
Thirteenth Amendment becomes law
The thirteenth amendment was the official act that freed the slaves. It was voted in by all the Northern states, but the South could not vote because they were still in a state of rebellion.